Cloudmark,
Inc., the global leader in messaging threat protection for mobile,
fixed and social networks, today released a national survey on mobile
users’ interaction with and awareness of text message spam in the UK.
The survey, conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of
Cloudmark among 1,164 UK adults aged 16+, found that 64% of UK mobile
text message users aged 16 and older have received spam texts in the
past year, but most are still unsure of how to take appropriate action.

The survey found 63% of British texters would ignore an unsolicited text
message, as few as 10% would actually take the correct action by
reporting spam to their carrier, and more worryingly 31% would text
“STOP.” This response only works with text alerts that the recipient has
legitimately signed up to, and has the reverse effect for spam texts –
merely confirming that the number is live and encouraging the spammer to
continue to target that phone.

Mobile users are strongly encouraged to forward spam texts to their
carrier via “7726” spelling out "SPAM" on the keypad (or 87726 for
Vodafone customers and 37726 for customers of Three UK). UK carriers
collate spam reports from their customers, including operators that
subscribe to the GSMA’s Spam Reporting Service powered by Cloudmark.
Suspicious texts submitted to this service help Cloudmark tackle spam on
behalf of participating carriers, who receive comprehensive reports with
detailed information on spam content, senders and reporters, which
enables them to block numbers and help to reduce further spam.

Cloudmark Chief Technology Officer Neil Cook said: “This survey has
revealed a remarkable lack of awareness in the UK about the threat of
mobile spam. It is a vicious circle that needs to be broken as the
spammers that run these campaigns are making a living from duping UK
mobile texters and selling data to fellow spammers. More often than not,
the snippets of personal data a mobile texter offers in the hope to
‘win’ or ‘claim’ a prize is being used by very targeted third-parties to
send even more spam. These findings must act as a rallying cry to raise
awareness of the 7726 Spam Reporting Service and public participation is
key to its success and effectiveness.

Neil continued: “Since the Spam Reporting Service launched in the UK in
February 2011, Cloudmark have seen at least a tenfold increase in spam
reports to the service in the UK. There is, however, clearly work to be
done as the greater the volume of reports submitted to 7726, the greater
impact it can have in preventing spammers from targeting UK consumers
and attempting to extort money from them.”

This study was conducted online within Great Britain by Harris
Interactive on behalf of Cloudmark from September 25 – October 1, 2012
among 1,164 adults aged 16-64 (among whom 1,046 use a mobile phone to
send/receive text messages) via its Global Omnibus product. Figures for
age, sex, region, and internet usage were weighted where necessary to
bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population.
This data was weighted to reflect the composition of the general adult
population.

Cloudmark
protects 2 billion global subscribers daily from an explosion in
messaging abuses across more operator networks than anyone else. Only
Cloudmark defends the world’s largest Mobile, Fixed and Social Networks,
including AT&T, Comcast, MySpace, NTT, Swisscom and Time Warner Cable,
with scalable and accurate protection against the widest range of
existing and emerging messaging threats.

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